Contender is a delicious, freestone peach with a beautiful red blush. Hardy to zone 4b, this variety flowers a little later, which makes it an attractive option in the Maritime climate with its late frosts. Fruit matures in early September (late-season peach). The trees are self-pollinating, so only one tree is plenty for a large annual yield. A single tree will produce enough for 2 people to have their fill of fresh peaches, gift some to family and friends, and freeze or process the rest. The tree will be 4-6 ft at pickup time. Specific planting instructions: like all peaches, make sure to plant them where they're protected from the cold, desiccating winter winds. Whatever you do, do NOT plant these trees in a sheltered, warm corner of the south or west side of a house or garage - these locations will make the tree wake up too early in the spring, and will get hit by a late frost. Instead, plant your peach trees to the north side of a building or a group of evergreen trees, so that the tree is shaded from the low winter sun, but enjoys full sun during the summer, when sun is high.Growing instructions: do not let your tree set fruit for the first couple of years, so that it has a chance to establish good roots. Once it is allowed to fruit, make sure to thin out the little fruitlets when they're the size of a marble - if you leave too many fruits to mature, your ripe peaches will be small and you'll run the risk of the tree breaking under the weight. Thinning them out preserves tree health and results in larger fruit. As a rule of thumb - make a fist with your thumb extended outward, and wherever you can touch 2 peach fruitlets at once, remove the smaller of the two.
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